The Sarah Connor Chronocles
by hbergie
Summary: A different take on the show, trying to marry the various timelines into one piece of fiction. Starts during the pilot, right after firing up the TDE. The rabbit hole branches off from there. Eventual Sarah/Cameron. First fic. AU-ish. Rated for safety.


**Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronocles**

Long time reader, first time poster. Love your show, now here is my take on things. It is a redo of SCC with my own spin on things and a retcon of the various timelines in an effort to make everything fit into one. Alternate timelines and revisionist time travel are confusing and pointless pieces of shit. Hint: Time Cop sucked. 12 Monkeys rocked. Enough said.

T1 and T2 are assumed to have happened as is. The only minor changes are pieces of dialogue related to revealed continuity and a few minor spins on events, but the events and the dates they happened are pretty much the same.

**Disclaimer: This story is based on the events of the Terminator franchise. All rights and such belong to Mr. Cameron and his robot army. I own none of it, but I figure, with as many spin-offs as exist out there, one more won't hurt. Don't sue me for attempting , and likely succeeding, in making something better than the shit I have seen published in the name of the franchise.**

There will be hints of other worlds as I go (Quantam Leap, Star Wars). They ain't mine either.

Since this tends to draw people in or turn them away, I'll let you know now: I plan on eventually having this be a Sarah/Cameron story. Slow burn.

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**Chapter 1. Time Travel Sucks**

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Sarah Connor had known Kyle Reese for less than two days. She had known the terminator dubbed "Uncle Bob" for about the same length of time. Only just recently had she met her third friendly time traveler, another terminator named "Cameron". Three time travelers, all told less than a week spent with them. It wasn't much time, really, especially with all the shit that seemed to go on when they popped into her life, but, if she had to do it over again, there is one thing she wished that they would have told her before now.

Time travel fucking _hurt_.

The terminators at least had the-dubious-excuse of not being able to feel the pain, so they were off the hook. But Kyle Reese? She was so going to kick his ass the next time she hallucinated about him... or when he finally got born, whichever came first. Talking about time travel had always given her a headache. Now she knew that the actual act of time traveling made that headache seem insignificant in comparison.

_Fuck_.

A muted groan to her left, finally distinguishable from the ringing in her ears and the blood pounding in her skull, made her open her eyes.

Bad idea.

_Ow_.

The second attempt worked a little better. Huh, now there was a fuzzy blob to go with the searing pain. Marvelous. After blinking her eyes a few times and shaking her head a little (not a good plan), her vision finally cleared enough to see her surroundings. Oh look, her teenage son. Naked. Just what every mother wants to see. At least he had the grace to look as fucked up and out of it as she felt.

Looking up a little brought a firm, naked ass directly into her line of sight, not six inches from her nose.

_Curiouser and curiouser._

Sarah almost laughed at the non sequitur. Her mind was tumbling like she had been tossed around in a tornado, but movement caught her attention and gave her temporary focus. The owner of the luscious derriere was standing up, slowly and methodically, totally uncaring of its nudity. Things were finally coming back to her. The bank. The terminator masquerading as a teenage girl. Blasting apart Cromartie with that wonderful plasma gun.

At least that part was fun, cathartic even. Too bad the gun didn't make the trip. That was one thing she did remember Kyle telling her: Nothing inorganic can make the journey.

But journey where? Or _when_?

Oh, looks like John was about to get up. 'Can't let him recover before his bad-ass mother does.' Standing was like stretching a cramp over her entire body, but ultimately bearable. John was having a little more trouble getting to his feet. She took some perverse pleasure in that.

It looked like they were still in the bank vault, but the door was still in one piece, standing ajar, not lying in chunks of twisted metal. The safety deposit boxes were only partially installed, still under construction. The place was relatively undisturbed, only a circular scar on the floor marring the vault. 'Same place, different time.' Her mind supplied.

Cameron was looking around, striding purposefully back and forth to inspect all the little nooks and crannies, _jiggling_ as only a teenage girl's body could. A short, hot, irrational stab of jealousy shot through her as she glanced down at her own battle-and-time-worn body.

John fell over with a grunt and she almost giggled. 'So much for youth.' The head rush was making her a bit giddy.

Sarah's head whipped up to see the machine's gaze focused on her, unwavering.

"Based on the current stage of construction, the bank is only a few weeks away from completion. We have jumped back in time less than a month." The terminator blinked, eyes shifting down Sarah's form for a second. "We should go."

Sarah nodded jerkily, still trying to gather her scrambled thoughts. When she glanced back at Cameron, she saw the girl's eyes focused a little bit too far south for a little too long for her liking, a look on her face that would have been described as _interest _on a normal girl. On the robot it was just creepy.

"Hey, girlie!" She barked. The terminator's eyes snapped up, wide and innocent in her doll-like face. "Find us something to wear so we can get out of here."

The girl nodded decisively, taking one last glance at Sarah before heading to the only completed section of the vault and efficiently tearing open a row of deposit boxes.

"Mom?" Said a scratchy, tired voice behind her. John was up in a half-crouch, trying vainly to cover himself, not look at her, and sneak glances at the terminator all at the same time. It was such an awkward scene that it would have been funny if not for the circumstances.

She was saved from having to say anything, or to stifle a laugh, by the return of a sloppily dressed Cameron stepping in between them and handing them each a generic set of jeans, shirts, shoes and belts. They looked to be one-size-fits-all, which meant that they wouldn't fit any of them at all comfortably. It didn't matter. All that mattered right now was that _dressed_ was far better than _not_, so Sarah and John quickly pulled on the too-baggy ensemble and the trio exited the bank into the still-warm late summer night.

Cameron set a quick, steady pace. With each step, Sarah was getting more and more agitated. They marched several miles through town without stopping. That was more than a few steps, a lot of anger to build up. She didn't think she could hold it in much longer.

"Where the _hell_ are we going?"

Not much longer at all.

The terminator stopped so abruptly, right under the middle of a streetlight, that Sarah almost slammed into her. John merely let out an explosive breath and collapsed bonelessly on the spot, leaning on a row of mailboxes, sulky teenager oozing out of his every pore.

Cameron regarded Sarah for a moment, head tilted at a slight angle. She held up a small notebook like a child showing off a new toy. "This holds a list of several safe-houses and supply caches within a day's drive. In order to get to them, we need a car. The closest car we can acquire without stealing is another 57.3 minutes at the velocity we have maintained up until now."

John groaned. "Why not just steal a car then? We dould have been _miles_ away by now."

Cameron blinked. "We would attract the attention of the police. That would not be advisable. For the next 29 days, especially, we must avoid drawing all possible attention while putting as much distance between us and the bank as can."

Sarah's gut clenched uncomfortably. "Why?"

The cyborg regarded her in the exact same manner as before, notebook still held aloft. "We have traveled 29 days into the past. At the current time, you and John are still living with Charlie Dixon. Unless you remember seeing yourselves in the past month or want to run the risk of meeting someone you knew, staying here would not be advisable. Any chance to avoid the authorities or media sources should also be taken. We have to be as invisible as possible."

Sarah now felt even more uncomfortable,feeling anything but invisible under the street light, but John seemed to brighten. "Why not just warn ourselves that Cromartie is coming?"

Cameron finally lowered the book and turned her attention to John fully. "Do you remember being warned?"

John just looked at her, dumbfounded by the question. Cameron took that as a no.

"Then you did not warn yourself. 'When the unwritten future becomes the written past, then it can no longer be changed.'"

John huffed angrily. "And what self-absorbed asshole told you that pile of garbage?"

"You did." She replied softly. "Thirty-three years from now."

John had no idea what to say to that, and neither did Sarah. What she _did_ know was that standing in the middle of a residential neighborhood, at night, in the outskirts of LA was _not_ the place to discuss it. She turned back to the terminator, whose unwavering gaze once again focused on her.

"Lead the way, Tin Missie."

Cameron's brow furrowed in what could have been confusion or even consternation, but she quickly resumed her trek along the row of yellow streetlights without comment. Sarah stalked after her and John reluctantly trailed behind them.

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Well folks, we are off to see the wizard. I hope to have a chapter every few days, or weekly if write the chapters a bit longer. TTFN


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